Juneteenth – David J. Kent

June 19th – Juneteenth – represents the end of slavery. But how did that come to be so? And what does the Juneteenth flag mean?

As the graphic above notes, Juneteenth is based on the date June 19, 1865, which is the date that Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas. As the Civil War was ending, Granger had been assigned to command the District of Texas. Upon arrival, he realized that word of emancipation had not filtered down to Texans, and white Texans continued to enslave African Americans. Granger issued General Order No. 3, which began:

The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection therefore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.

The Proclamation to which he was referring was the Emancipation Proclamation, which Abraham Lincoln had issued on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation declared that all people held in slavery in states in rebellion were “thenceforward and forever free.” As one of the states of the Confederacy, Texas was included in the Proclamation and thus all enslaved people were free. White slaveholders kept that information to themselves and hoped to continue to enslave other Americans. Granger’s General Order No. 3 ended that practice.

Technically, the Emancipation Proclamation was a wartime measure, and its authority was in question at that point in time. However, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution had already been passed by Congress (and signed by Lincoln to show his support even though there is no requirement for the president to sign amendments). Several states had ratified it, but officially the 13th Amendment permanently ending slavery in the United States was fully ratified and went into force on December 6, 1865. This is the official end of slavery.

But African Americans have for many decades celebrated June 19th – Juneteenth – as Freedom Day, a day representative of achieving freedom from slavery. Some states had made it a state holiday. In 2021, President Joe Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Each portion of the Juneteenth flag carries a specific meaning. The red, white, and blue colors remind us that African Americans were, and are, Americans (most of those enslaved by the Civil War had been born in the United States, some tracing family lines back several generations). The arc represents a new horizon, the opportunities and promise that lay ahead for Black Americans. Think of Martin Luther King’s “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” The white star in the center symbolizes both Texas (the Lone Star State) and the freedom of African Americans in all fifty states. The starburst reflects the new beginning offered by freedom. And, of course, the date of General Order No. 3.

Enjoy your federal holiday, but also remember the deep meaning behind the date.

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David J. Kent is President of the Lincoln Group of DC and the author of Lincoln: The Fire of Genius: How Abraham Lincoln’s Commitment to Science and Technology Helped Modernize America and Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America.

His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity andEdison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Emancipation Memorial On June 19th, 1865, Union Major General Gordon Granger entered Galveston, Texas and discovered that somehow word had not previously been communicated to the enslaved people that they were free in accordance with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation effective January 1, 1863. With Granger’s General Order No. 3, June the 19th came to represent the end of slavery in America, and as such became an African American holiday called Juneteenth.

Technically, the Emancipation Proclamation wasn’t a sufficient post-war protector of freedom and actual permanent freedom was only guaranteed by ratification of the 13th Amendment on December 6, 1865. But the date stuck because of its immediate meaning and has been celebrated by African Americans since that time, ebbing and flowing in response to societal suppression or promotion. Some local governments and states acknowledged the holiday, and more recently the trend is for more governments and companies have established the day as an official holiday or day off from work. Juneteenth is one element of a long history related to the attainment of equal rights for African Americans and all Americans, although our nation has also been plagued by historical and continuing systemic racism.

One aspect of that history that remains controversial today is the Freedman’s Memorial in Washington, DC. Often referred to as the “Emancipation Memorial” or “Freedom’s Memorial” or even “Lincoln and Emancipation,” the statue by sculptor Thomas Ball was erected in Lincoln Park east of the U.S. Capitol. It depicts Abraham Lincoln standing over an enslaved black man being released from his shackles and beginning the slow rise to equality. The face of the African American man represents that of a real person, Archer Alexander. Frederick Douglass was the keynote speaker at the 1876 dedication, which was also attended by President Ulysses S. Grant. Importantly, the funding of the statue was solely provided by freedmen (and women), with the first $5 donated by former slave Charlotte Scott of Virginia. While they didn’t have a say in the final design, the statue represents the efforts of African Americans to commemorate their emancipation from centuries of forced servitude.

Much of the controversy stems from the positioning of the figures, in particular the apparent subservient position of Archer Alexander. The original concept of Lincoln freeing the slaves and the depiction of now formerly enslaved men to rise seems to have been lost from current understanding. Another problem with today’s interpretation is the tendency to cherry pick from Frederick Douglass’s dedication speech, a wonderful oratory that delved into the complex relationships between Lincoln, Grant, former slaves, and the continuing struggle for equality. As the statue was being dedicated, so too was the Reconstruction period coming to an end. Whereas Reconstruction had guaranteed the rights of African Americans, the Jim Crow era that arose in response sought to destroy those rights. As W.E.B. Dubois said, “the slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” Alas, our long history of systemic racism continues to this day.

Emancipation Memorial

As we celebrate Juneteenth 2020 we are again faced with the realization that racism and inequality are not an artifact of the past; they are a fact of reality today. This again offers us an opportunity to better understand our history, and use that understanding to, as Lincoln said, save “our last best hope of earth.”

As an Abraham Lincoln scholar, I hope that everyone interested in this statue and its ultimate fate spend the time to learn about its history and meaning. Likewise, we have a unique opportunity to learn about the importance of Juneteenth, not just to African Americans, but to the history of all Americans.

Happy Juneteenth!

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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